Monday, November 9, 2009

The designers and builders will continue load testing and checking the systems on the wing into Monday. While the guys at the base tucked into a late dinner, Michel Marie (FRA) Technical Director, told me of the updated plans.

"The wing has just been completely assembled for the first time this afternoon. We have had to lift it in preparation for moving it and we'll now spend Monday completing our load testing and testing all the systems that allow us to shape the wing," he said.

I asked him about the effort required to get to this stage: "It's enormous. Like the wing, it's just been enormous. There has been a lot of hard work by many people to get us here."

Earlier on Sunday, while the wing team was putting the final touches on assembly, the sailing team was practicing its dock-out procedure.

"It's not going to be easy to get the boat away from the dock with the wing up, obviously," Michel said. "So we wanted to see in full-scale what it will be like and to try a couple of options."

The forecast is promising for the early part of the week, so with luck, we'll see the wing up and installed and into full-scale, on-the-water testing, later in the week.